Wallaby grass

this one turned out quite well also!! Was this film as well or a texture in the background?? Whatever, it may be the DOF but the grainy appearance works well.

Hi Margo,

I like the effect that you have presented. The green tones are most pleasant as well.

While I am not a proponent for using fine macro lens stopped down beyond F/5.6, the need for high definition imagery is not required for the nice results that you have accomplished.

Best Regards, Mike

Hi Gail, thank you so much for your comments - and for the comments on my family photos, too.  I've recently "discovered" grass seeds as a photo subject - love their various shapes and textures.   And, as it's spring here in the Southern Hemisphere at the moment, our gardens, roadsides and fields are full of them!  For this image, I used a gradient map to obscure the background and simplify the seed heads.

Hi Mike, I agree - I would normally use a wider aperture for macro work too but in this case I was taking a shot in late afternoon, overcast, breezy conditions under tree cover with a hand-held camera.  This meant a flash (with pocket bouncer) was called for.  Under the prevailing conditions, I needed at least 1/160s to still the movement of the grass (as well as cope with operator shake).  But I didn't want to go any faster lest the background became too dark.  And with the shutter speed set at 1/160s, I found f11 was as wide as I could go before getting areas of over-exposure.  Hope this is making sense, Mike - please let me know if not :).  Thank you so much for your comments and feedback, by the way, really appreciated.

lovely green.  sharp and blurry.  cool.  best, j

A beautiful result with very nice lighting, Margo!

With best regards,

Ruud.

wonderful rendition. compliments -koushik

Lovely composition inside the frame.

The bokeh effect to the backdrop is gorgeous and makes the image what it is......

Thanks everyone for your kind compliments and comments.  They are very much appreciated.  

Amazing shot! Well done! love the shades of green and the forms.

Thanks, Tony.  I had fun playing with gradient maps to get this effect.

I have done very little with gradient maps - perhaps you can teach me.

Hi Tony, my PS skills are very limited - my training so far has just been a series of Lynda.com on-line courses.  So, I can't guarantee whether I used the gradient map correctly.  All I did, though, was simply add a gradient map layer to the original image (which I've now posted to the Photoecology album), then selected the map that pleased me most.  Too easy.  Margo.